"Earlier today, Samsung revealed that it won't update the Galaxy S, its most successful smartphone to date, to the latest version of Android. You might shrug and dismiss that as just more evidence of Android's inherent fragmentation or the need for buyers to beware, but I take grave issue with it. This is a decision based not on technical constraints, as Samsung would have you believe, but on hubris." This. A gazillion million thousand times this. Also: "It's simple: make a large high-end device, a smaller value device, and a QWERTY device. Maybe one or two other specialty form factors, tops. That's it. Update them once a year, and keep the names the same." It would make updating a hell of a lot easier. We don't need the Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch Sensation.

The fact that Samsung won't support even the most recent phones with software updates is alien. Microsoft still releases minor updates for XP, and for a while, provided new features for users who bought it years before. Apple does the same, with their desktops and their phones. For Samsung to ditch support of a still new phone for such a lame excuse is something that is unreasonable.

Come on, Apple removed a feature while releasing 4S - Siri was a free download in the Appstore, afterwards "introduced" by 4S.
They also push mass sales of their old models for much longer ...so the times of support since the end of large sales isn;t that spectacular.
And... old OSX versins are quickly obsoleted / abandoned (large part of that is dynamics of 3rd party devs on Apple platform, who for some reason target almost exclusively 'latest and greatest' but still)

Plus, Samsung in turn comes from the "old mobile" era, where the phones very much weren't updated; it's not alien in any way.

Well, frankly, phones are not cars. Nobody has ever expected free upgrades to their car, but people expect that with their phones.

Not strictly true, my car got free modification when the manufacturer came to conclusion there's a heightened chance of damage to one braking line; and I fully expect them to notify me again and arrange free visit to their servicing centre, if such issues would come to light once more.
Sure, "safety upgrade" ...well, that's also what large part of software upgrades are.